Mehta to Discuss Making of Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children'

Video: Deepa Mehta talks about making Salman Rushdie's novel "Midnight's Children" into a feature film on Feb. 28.

Deepa Mehta, internationally acclaimed filmmaker, producer and screenwriter, will discuss her work making Salman Rushdie's novel "Midnight's Children" into a feature film in "Approaching Midnight," the 2010 Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies at 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28 in Emory Law School's Tull Auditorium, 1301 Clifton Rd. Admission is free.

In conjunction with the lecture, Emory's Department of Film Studies and the Provost's office will sponsor screenings of Mehta's "Elements" trilogy, an exploration of tradition and change in 20th century India. "The trilogy is about elements on one level that nurture and destroy us," Mehta has said. "They are very tangible elements. 'Fire' is about the politics of sexuality, 'Earth' is about the politics of nationalism, and 'Water' is about the politics of religion."

Thursday, Feb. 11: "Earth" (1998) Based on Bapsi Sidhwa's novel, "Cracking India," "Earth" portrays, through the eyes of a child, the violent and abrupt undoing of the warm friendships between Hindu, Sikh, Parsee and Muslim friends during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.

Thursday, Feb. 18: "Water" (2005) "Water" centers on an eight-year-old widow who by orthodox Hindu custom must spend the rest of her life in an ashram set next to the Ganges River. She is taken under the wing of older widows who struggle with their lifelong fate.

The Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies is made possible through support of the Sheth Family Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness about the culture and history of India and South Asia.